Automobile roof configurations may be broadly classed into "hard-tops" and "convertibles." Hard-tops feature a rigid roof member composed of, and immovably affixed to, the skin material of the automobile, as for example steel. Convertibles feature a soft and flexible roof material which is stretched taunt over the passenger compartment by a frame. The frame is retractably configured such that the frame may be both retracted into, and deployed outwardly from, a compartment rearward of the passenger seating area, wherein the roof material compliantly follows the frame during its respective retraction and deployment movements.
Convertibles provide a wonderful sense of driving enjoyment, but have several disadvantages. The soft, flexible material of the convertible roof can degrade over time due to environmental factors, and the material admits noise entry into the passenger compartment at a level much higher than that admitted by a hard-top roof.
The concept of an automobile having a hard-top roof featuring convertible functionality is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,912. In this disclosure, a two-piece hard-top roof is selectively retractable into a compartment rearward with respect to the passenger seating area. In this regard, a first roof panel is frameably connected with a second roof panel. During a retraction movement, the first roof panel nestably travels on a framework of the second roof panel, then the nested first and second roof panels pivotably retract into the compartment. Disadvantageously, this concept appears to require that frame components be conspicuously located in the passenger compartment, and the pivoting movement would likely result in a large loss of otherwise useable space in the fore-aft dimension of the automobile.
Accordingly, what remains needed in the art is a retractable hard-top roof which does not require framework be placed into the passenger compartment when the hard-top roof is deployed, and further requires a minimal fore-aft dimension to accommodate storage when the retractable hard-top roof is retracted.